Farmers’ Markets from Diverse Communities Benefit from Sharing
The recent boom in farmers’ markets has allowed producers with locally grown produce and other items to bring not only high-quality, fresh products to consumers but also a nostalgic connection with rural traditions. There are now more than 75 farmers’ markets in communities across Virginia, from rural Narrows to urban Alexandria.
“Farmers’ market managers enter their profession from diverse backgrounds and currently have no model for how to manage their markets,” says Denise Mainville, market analysis specialist for Virginia Cooperative Extension and assistant professor of agricultural and applied economics. “They lack opportunities to communicate with each other and are consequently often isolated as they make key managerial decisions that affect how their markets perform.”
Kimberly Jukes, a junior agricultural and applied economics major, began an Extension-funded research project to investigate this problem under Mainville’s supervision. Mainville originally brought Jukes onto the project to administer an e-mail discussion list for managers, but given her interests and enthusiasm, Jukes quickly became more involved in the research end of the project, too. In addition to Farmers’ Markets from Diverse Communities Benefit from Sharing administering the e-mail discussion list, Jukes has been helping to conduct a survey of farmers’ market managers across Virginia and analyze the results.
“It’s basically a forum for farmers’ market managers to share ideas and ask questions,” says Jukes. “The problems that arise in one town often happen to farmers’ markets around the commonwealth.”
As far as Mainville and Jukes know, Virginia is the only state with such a system. The discussion list, which now includes most of the managers in Virginia, also allows Extension agents to interact with the entire community of farmers’ market managers about important issues such as food safety, liability, and regulations instead of dealing with the issue one manager at a time.
Mainville adds that undergraduate students such as Jukes allow her to tackle projects that she otherwise might not. “Sometimes students like Kimberly come to me for opportunities to extend what they learn in my classes to topics that are of particular interest to them,” she says. “My requirement for undergraduate researchers is that they
identify a topic that is important to Virginia.”